Maryrose Lyons blogging since 2003...

Dose of Good Hope

February 9, 2012 at 9:31 am

I’m just back from Australia. I got talking to some lovely young engineering graduates on the plane either on their way out, or coming back for a holiday after spending a year there. While they say they are having the craic, I can see it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Costs are rising significantly in Australia, the average weekly rent in Sydney for an average apartment is $650 – that’s $2600 a month, higher than Hannover Quay at the height of the boom! Unemployment is rearing its ugly head, especially in the financial sector, and to cap it all off – they’ve just had a wet summer, the likes of which we are used to seeing in Ireland.

I came back and I have to say I’m noticing more signs of positivity and growth. I was on Twitter the last few days and the mood seems to be more buoyant than before. In fact I thought it would make for very interesting research to track the mood of Twitter in each of the last 4 January’s since the recession began.

Then I heard about Hireland, and I have to commend all the good souls who have put their energy into that.

Hireland is an initiative by business owners to encourage others to hire just one person this year. If everyone did that, think of the fallout from all those thousands of jobs that have been created. I have to say, I am seriously considering. In the meantime, check out the video here. And you can join them on Facebook.